Devon Cricket Board - A Division: Orchard aims for top three

BRIXHAM skipper Mark Orchard will be looking to turn Barton over this Saturday as he chases a top-three finish in the A Division.

Brixham currently share fourth place with Braunton, the side they drew with last Saturday at Boudary Park.

With Barton (bottom), Alphington (8th) and Sandford (3rd) still to play, Orchard feels third isn’t an unreasonable target.

“Our first aim after being promoted into this division was to be competitive and I think we have achieved that,” said Orchard.

“I would be happy with fourth, but if we can get up to third it will have been a cracking season.”

Orchard, who is closing in on 500 league runs for the season, leathered 73 against a flagging Braunton attack as Brixham amassed 261 for four.

George Northcott (52) and Orchard gave Brixham a 105-run start, then ex-captain Chris Lanyon (62) and Anthony Marr (31) knocked up another 51.

Braunton skipper Jon Baglow (2-58) topped the bowling rankings. Stewart Rhodes (0-68) and Harry Booker (1-73 in 12) didn’t fare so well.

Jas Kalsi (76), Tom Mitcham (37) and Rhodes (61) launched Braunton on the road to 175 for two in reply, but as wickets tumbled to Marr (3-47) and Upham (4-31) Brixham got on top.

Braunton’s last pair of Baglow and Walid Iqbal had to see out the final five balls of the match to earn a draw at 233 for nine.

ABBOTSKERSWELL captain Josh Dowling will be running a development programme over the rest of the season as he plans ahead for 2012.

Abbots, at home to Sandford this Saturday, look safe from relegation despite their six-wicket defeat at Exeter last time out.

Dowlng said there were positives among the debris of the Exeter defeat, which he is encouraged by for the future.

“Losing to Exeter on their ground with two overs to go was a solid effort on our behalf, “ said Dowling.

“We fought it right out, which is something that I was very pleased with.

“There is an enormous amount of young talent at the club and the rest of the season is about our youngsters improving week in week out.

“The club is lucky to have senior players that understand and encourage the youngsters, even if that means sacrificing their own game.

“I think we have some more good performances up our sleeve and we are keen to continue to play aggressive and positive cricket, whoever we play.”

Abbots were all out for 166 with four balls to go – Chris Kelmere making the top score of 41 not out. Kelmere and Mike Pugh (21) put on 49 for the fourth wicket in Abbots’ only stand of note.

Callum Still’s season with the ball keeps getting better and better as he spun his way to figures of five for 47. Merryck Steward took two for 36.

Exeter won with three overs to spare and were largely untroubled after Mike Wilkinson (49) and Rob Holman (33) put on 71 for the second wicket.

There was a minor hiatus after Wilkinson was run out by a bad call from Glenn Lammonby, but the veteran left-hander made ample amends with an unbeaten 21 not out as he and Alex Bossomworth got the target down to 35 to win.

With relegation-threatened Shobrooke Park and Alphington still to play, plus Cornwood this Saturday, Exeter will fancy their chances of going up.

However, Sandford and Braunton are still hanging in behind them after drawn games against Torquay and Brixham respectively.

TORQUAY are clearly missing 39-wicket South African spinner Jan Bothma – he has gone home for treatment on a back injury – as Sandford racked up 248 for eight against them.

Only Abbotskerswell had gone past 200 in the league against Torquay in the league this season prior to Saturday – and they were beaten by 10 wickets when they did it!

Matt Theedom belted 89 off 84 balls with 12 fours and three sixes as Samdford got on with it.

A stand of 146 with Russell Discombe (63) for the first wicket set the tone. Adrian Small then clattered 49 to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

Nick Watkin took four for 61 for Torquay, whose next best return was two for 70 by Andy Yau.

Torquay then slumped to 89 for six in reply – the wickets were shared around with Gary Binns (2-34) doing most of the damage – and at that stage Jon Rice went out to join Joe Thompson.

Sandford probably fancied it at this stage as they had 21 overs to get the last four wickets. They didn’t get another one as Thompson (63no) and Rice (27no) put on exactly 90 unbroken to win the match.

Torquay – 49 points clear at the top with 60 to play for – are over the horizon as far as the chasing pack are concerned. Sandford have to make up 10 points from somewhere to get past Exeter into second place in the three games left, which are against Abbotskerswell, Cornwood and Brixham to finish.

Veteran bowlers Clive Dare and Pete Turner bowled Shobrooke Park to an 11-run win over Alphington, which got them off the bottom of the A Division table.

It’s a three-way fight to the finish at the bottom of the table with Barton, Shobrooke and Alphington all scrapping like mad to dodge the drop.

Barton, who lost to Cornwood, have it all to do now as they are nine points behind Shobrooke and need 14 to get ahead of third-bottom Alphington.

Shobrooke clipped along to 205 all out with Justin Dollow (73) leading the say. After Jon James went cheaply, Dollow and Ben Stockden (20) moved the score along.

Andy Wilson (3-48) pipped Nathan Caton-Robertson (2-34) to the bowling honours. Unfortunately for the Alphas, spinner Paul James cried off on Friday and filling in his overs cost them runs.

Alphington knew the pressure was on them and refused to roll over even though Turner (3-47) and Dare (3-33) had them wobbling at 140 for eight with Matt Barnes (31) the best of the scorers that far.

Tom Bath (22) and Tom Weeks (20) put on 42 for the ninth wicket as it became Shobrooke’s turn to worry.

Bath went first, then Weeks nicked Pete Steer (2-17) to Shobrooke skipper and keeper Chris Ford to condemn Alphington to defeat

Said Ford: “We had to win this game to have a chance of staying up, but there is a long way to go yet before we are safe.

“Looking at the fixtures I feel our run in is easier than Alphington’s, but I can see it going to the wire.

Shobrooke finish with Braunton (5th), Exeter (2nd) and Abbotskerswell (7th). Alphington visit leaders Torquay this Saturday, followed by Brixham (4th) and Braunton (5th) on the last day of hostilities.

Chris Parker rediscovered his form with a match-winning 54 not out as Cornwood beat relegation-haunted Barton by eight wickets.

Parker hasn’t reached a half-century since the second game of the season when he took one off Abbotskerswell.

But in difficult batting conditions with the ball zipping around on a damp surface, Parker looked in complete control.

As Barton discovered the hard way, it was easy to lose wickets if you were not on your guard.

Andy Bees exploited the Oak Park conditions to take four or 41 and there were two wickets each for Mike Wood, Kevin Willcock and Matt Butterworth as Barton were bowled out for 126.

Barton lurched from 43 for two to 75 for seven before Steve Lewis (58) and Tom Porter (12) hung around to put on 40 for the eight wicket.

Cornwood lost wickets at 19 and 48 in reply and were frequently troubled by Barton captain Adam Parker (0-23 off 12) nipping the ball around.

Skipper Craig Harris (21no was in at the end with Parker when the winning runs were knocked off.

Said Harris: “It was a good toss to win as had we lost it the result could easily have gone the other way.

“We had then 50 for six at one stage and I was a bit worried that we let them get away from us.

“We needed to bat sensibly and that’s what we did. It was our first 20-pointer this season, which was something to celebrate.”